Serves me Right!

Shame on me...I admit that I am a lazy blogger.

I mean really, who wants to hear a lunatic mother talk about how her two 1/2 year old wants to peepee on the potty but she's not mentally up to letting go of the diapers or how her 5 year old is a saint at school and morphs into a sassy 16 year old girl on the ride home from school. You get my drift.

So as I was watching Dallin run around the house this morning with Jesse's toothbrush in his mouth this thought came to my mind. "So, do you tell your husband you were too tired to chase after the two year old to get his toothbrush out of his mouth or do you just gently put it back on the bathroom counter when it finally hits the floor?" Well you can probably guess what the answer is in our house. Mom just puts it back when it hits the floor. That is until Mom realizes that it's not her husband's toothbrush, it's HERS!!!! Yuck! Who the heck wants two year old boy germs on their toothbrush. I am disgusted with myself. Then again, it serves me right!

Gothic Princess Party

We now have a 5 year old in our midst! Yep, Madelyn turned 5 on the 23rd. She decided she wanted a princess party with a few friends from school and the girls from her Primary class. It wasn't until she was talking to the kids at school about her party that she realized there were not going to be any boys there. On the way home from school the day before the party she asked me if we could change it to a "King and Queen" party. Needless to say, we still kept with the princess only theme which seemed to work out just fine. The only twist Madelyn threw in the plans was to throw a fit when she was putting her very pretty yellow Belle costume on. She decided she wanted to wear her Holloween witch costume instead because it had a zipper in the back. What's a mother to do? Let her kid wear a black witch costume to her princess birthday party and just realize that it will all be okay, of course!! We love you Miss Maddie!!!

Love the guilt that comes from a store bought cake. Also love not having to worry about making and frosting one with Dallin lurking around!

There was a lot of partying going on! Grandpa Jerry and Dallin just resting their eyes.

Nobody likes a party pooper...oh wait, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to!!!

The ever popular jump house. Don't worry folks, it's only leaning a little to the left!

The princesses fluttering in the backyard.

Madelyn's Ken doll from Dallin. Barbie needed a dude and Dallin needed a doll. He's only two, don't judge!

Opening family presents before school in her jammies. Barbie needed a car to pick Ken up to go to the temple to get married. It's never too early to learn expectations!

"Little" Sister Bear

I took Ava in for her 4 month check up last week. (I think it's more like 4 1/2 but who's counting?) The Doctor was pretty impressed with her chucky thighs and happy disposition. Well happy until she was given an oral vaccine and then poked three times in those chunky thighs! She's almost rolling over, it just takes our babies a little longer than most due to the size we like to grow them. She weighs in at just shy of 17 lbs. and is 24 inches long. The 17 lbs. is the reason she is now wearing 9-12 month clothes and is rapidly leaning more towards the 12 month side!

Ava loves to have Madelyn and Dallin play peek a boo with her and will squeal with delight when she is surprised. She is such a happy baby it makes life so enjoyable to have her! We love our little Sister Bear!!!

Child Labor

Last weekend the kids and Jesse went out to visit Uncle Matt and Uncle Chris to drive some serious equipment. Matt is working for a farmer outside of Lincoln who's harvesting rice so he told Jesse to bring the kids out and they could check out the tractors. Jesse said Dallin was trembling with excitement as soon as he saw them and Madelyn wasn't too sure about the whole moving monster tractor idea. The kids went a few laps with Uncle Chris and Jesse went with Uncle Matt. These aren't your grandpa's tractors folks. These have air conditioning, special air seats, GPS, and are guided by lasers. They are worth more than most of the houses around here. Everyone came back really muddy and happy so I know they had a great time. Thanks to Uncle Chris and Uncle Matt who never fail to bring excitement to the lives of our children and terror to their sister!!

Madelyn and Dallin cruised around in this beast with Uncle Chris.

Madelyn wasn't so sure about being a farmer at first.

Dallin ready to go!

Dallin trying to put the tractor in gear with Uncle Matt.

The harvestor that my babies were driving!

Good times in the dirt!

Mother of the Year

Dear Mother of the Year Committee,

It's me, Katie, again. I hope you have received my previous self-nominating letters. I haven't heard back from you so I thought I would try again. To refresh your memory, I believe I should be the next mother of the year. Some of the highlights of my mothering include: feeding my kids mac n cheese two days in a row so I can start and finish a series of books involving a vampire, letting my two year old watch Caillou as many times as he wants so I can get the dishes in the dishwasher and laundry in the washer before my husband comes home, and knowing the sounds of markers coloring on forbidden items in my room but not getting up from my bed so I can finish a much needed ten minute nap.

My latest and greatest feat of motherhood happened yesterday in the parking lot of our Dr.'s office. I had Ava in the front pack, Dallin in the stroller, and Madelyn was walking. I just finished closing the automatic door on our van when Dallin started screaming. I realized his big toe was shut in the door. I frantically tried to pull it out but had to wait until the door finished closing and was able to reset itself to automatically open again. Then I proceeded to run through the parking lot (with a screaming two year old, a fussing infant, and scared 5 year old) to the Dr.'s office. All while being given the stink eye for having such noisy kids. The Dr. determined the toe would be okay, but pretty painful for a while. When we got back to the car, Jesse was kind enough to point out the dried road kill blood on the white door frame from Dallin's toe. We finally made it home after Dallin screaming for at least an hour straight, then had him sit on the couch the rest of the night. I mean he did not move a muscle the rest of the night, just sat on the couch and cried whenever he saw his "boom-boom" toe. After we finally got him in bed I had this "Mother of the Year" thought which I graciously shared with Jesse...."I might really like having a "boom-boom" toe on my two year old every few months so I can have a break. No running after him, no counter climbing, no scissors, no knives, no fire. I could just leave him on the couch and know he isn't going to move." Is it really sooo bad to wish for your kid to be out of commission so you can have a break for a few hours every once in a while?

Please let me know when the decision will be made for Mother of the Year. I've tried so hard and will be disappointed to not have the honor bestowed on me once again.

Sincerely - Katie

Quirkiness

I've been tagged by my awesome sister-in-law, Kasey. She lives in Arkansas but travels here on business a lot. We are lucky to see her every six months or so.


Here are the rules: "MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"

1.Link to the person who tagged you

2.Mention the rules on your blog

3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you

4.Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them

5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

My 6 Very Unspectacular Quirks

1. I have to sleep on the side of the bed that is farthest from the door. I can't sleep if I'm closest to the door because I know that if a bad guy comes in, he'll get me first!

2. I am not a snob unless it comes to hotels. I hate staying in hotels. There will never be enough stars to make feel clean in a hotel. I can feel germs crawling on me and my kids. I am convinced there are bed bugs, diseases, and other gross things lurking on every surface in a hotel room and especially the beds. Last time I had Jesse spray Clorox Clean Up in the shower before I took a shower. I think I've seen one too many Dateline Hotel Exposes (however you spell it)!!

3. I would rather give birth everyday for a week than be pregnant. My pregnancies are hard on me and especially hard on my family. My labor and delivery is a piece of cake. Not fun, but easy enough. At least when I'm in labor I know it will all be over in a few hours. Pregnancy lasts 9 months that are way too long for my body! Then again, I am gratefull I can even get pregant and have healthy babies.


4. I tap the top of a can of soda a few times before I open it. Everytime.


5. Unknowingly, I don't finish a drink if it's in a cup. I will leave a little at the bottom. I'm a sipper so I guess I feel like it's yucky by the time I get to the bottom stuff.


6. I am a peculiar magazine reader. I have a system that drives Jesse crazy but it works for me. The first thing I do is to quickly flip through the magazine stopping to check out pictures or short articles, whatever grabs my attention. Then I go back through and read the longer articles that are interesting. After a few days, or when I'm really desperate for something to read, I'll go back and read every article and look at every picture that I haven't already checked out. I'll even read the name of the editor, photographers, etc. Drives the hubby nuts!





I'm tagging you!!!





Alisha G.


Lisa B.


Brittney M.


Jinny V.


Leslie A.


Jessie R.

Our Third Angel

Who you looking at?

Gotta love baby smiles!

She still has blue eyes. We'll see if they stay or go darker green like Dallin's.

Tubby time hair. She gets that from me.

Ava's classic Cline cheekies. I love them cheeks and Michellin man arms!

So I'm still trying to figure out this whole picture on the blog set up so everything is backwards. I'll get it one of these tries!

Since I haven't posted anything since Ava's birth I thought I would share some more recent pictures of her. She is such a sweet baby. The third is the charm for our family. She is so mellow and calm. She sleeps through the night, doesn't have colic, and is a fabulous nurser. You will see evidence of the fabulous eating habits in her double chin and cheekies! Ava is pretty used to being loved, kissed, poked, patted, and cuddled most of the day. Dallin calls her Aba. He is actually very gentle with her. I do have to remind him not to poke her eyes or pat her tummy too hard. That and babies don't like monster trucks driven over their heads. Other than that he has adjusted beautifully to having another sister. Madelyn is a wonderful helper (when it's her idea). She loves to put bows in Ava's hair or just talk to her to help calm her down. I can count on Madelyn to be my extra arms when I'm making dinner. It's very nice to plop Ava in Madelyn's lap and let her hang out with her big sister.

Confessions & Excuses

Here is my confession and excuse....I have no idea how to blog and I have been putting off learning for months. My friend Leslie created this blog for our family right before Ava was born so I could share our family happenings with friends and family who have moved away. I promised I would keep it up to date. It's been four months. Sorry Leslie. I have had a mental block on how to start posting. Silly, I know. It just seems like one more thing to do. Then I decided that this will count as our family journal/scrapbook since I don't do either one of them. Please be patient as I try to figure this whole thing out! Here goes my attempt to keep family and friends up to date with our family.

Introducing...

AVA KATHLEEN CLINE

Born on June 12th

weighing 8lbs. 3 oz and 21" long

Our three beautiful children Dallin, Madelyn and Ava.